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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27444424">Daily Challenge, Daily Reward</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaneTheNya/pseuds/JaneTheNya'>JaneTheNya</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Persona 5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Autistic Sakura Futaba, Gen, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Trans Sakura Futaba, futaba and ren are siblings, futaba is one-sidedly crushing on ann</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 02:36:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,721</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27444424</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaneTheNya/pseuds/JaneTheNya</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Futaba is working toward healing, one step at a time- even if those steps are small ones.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sakura Futaba &amp; Takamaki Ann</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>45</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Daily Challenge, Daily Reward</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Futaba squirmed and fumbled as her dazed form stirred awake. She was groggy, a state of confusion casting a haze over her mind. She was entangled in her sheets, headphones to the side of her head still playing audio from a podcast. She reached for her phone, finding it after a moment of searching, pausing the audio and checking the time. Three in the afternoon. She gave a sigh.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She squirmed a bit more, trying to get comfortable in the twisted-up sheets and fumbling for a moment to locate the glasses she had accidentally been sleeping on, a momentary worry that she’d broken them, and awkwardly placing them on her bedside, within reach.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She remembered what had happened by now, as the sleepiness faded from her mind slowly. She’d had a long day yesterday, an outing with the Thieves that had taken a lot of strength. There were big crowds in the city, but she got to be with her friends, to eat out at a restaurant, and buy herself a new game. After coming home, she’d promptly taken off her jacket- to keep warm- and her pants- to avoid the uncomfortable feeling of sleeping in jeans- and immediately passed out in her shirt and underwear. It was more common for her to fall asleep like that these days than with pajamas on, which she didn’t like. But recent weeks had proven to be challenging.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Not every outing was as successful as yesterday’s. Sometimes the sounds around the city became too much and Ren had to take her home. Sometimes she became too anxious after one or two activities and they had to cut their plans off early. Every time, she felt bad for ruining the rest of the Thieves’ outing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She settled herself under the covers, retrieving her glasses and checking her phone for updates. A few texts from the others from conversations she’d passed out midway through. They were used to it. She shotgunned out some apologies and set about finding something to watch. Before she could tap the app, though, she stopped herself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Food first,” she mumbled to herself. “‘s lunchies time…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She yawned, sliding out of bed and slipping into some casual clothes for the day. Cargo pants, a tank-top, and of course, her favorite jacket- a dark green with a fuzzy collar. Immediately, she leaned her face into it and rubbed against it. It felt nice. She made her way to the door and headed out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her brother was still at school for another half-hour or so, staying after for one club activity or another. Sojiro was at the coffee shop. She didn’t feel like making the trek there today for curry, even if it did sound good. She quietly made for the kitchen and popped in a microwavable meal.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As the time on the microwave counted down and the whir filled the quiet house, she spun on her toes a bit, socks sliding against the tile floor of the kitchen, doing an idle dance as she waited, humming a tune to herself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She watched the microwave intently as it hit 10 seconds on the timer, stopping it at 1 exactly to avoid the loud beep that came when it was done. She quickly tore the door open, hungry.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hot hot hot…” she mumbled to herself as she watched the steam rise off the dish. “Big hot.” She left it for a moment and pried open the fridge for a juice pouch, grinning as she retrieved one.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She eyed the coffeemaker, thinking for a moment. She remembered to make lunch today, and that was good. She also got dressed, which was hard. So she deserved coffee, too, as a reward, she rationed. She set about making a cup, and finished, leaving the room to avoid the strange sounds it made as it brewed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She kept thinking along that route- she remembered to make lunch. That was good! A lot of the time, she’d forget, and someone would have to remind her. No one had texted her today to do it, but she had remembered, all on her own.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It clicked, then. “Oh!” she shouted, hopping slightly in place and speedwalking toward her room again. “Meds!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She slipped back into the familiar space and retrieved one of the orange bottles from the desk by her computer. “Estradiol first…” she mumbled. “Gorl pills.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She opened the bottle, retrieved the pill, and remembered. She needed something to take them with, and she’d left them in the kitchen. She sighed. She made her way back and grabbed the juice pouch from the counter, poking in the straw as she walked back.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay. Now for real.” She popped the small blue pill in her mouth and took a swish of the juice. Rinse and repeat for the other pills. And now back to the kitchen. She sighed. Doing things was hard.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She walked back to the kitchen and grabbed the warm cup of coffee and the now-cooled meal, and headed back to her room. A meal well-earned, she figured, even if the process itself seemed small and insignificant. She reminded herself what her brother said. Different things are hard for different people. Sometimes doing small things is the hardest of all. Don’t compare yourself to other people, but be the best as yourself. She gave a little smile.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Meds taken, clothes on, food made, she slipped back under the covers with the meal on her lap and slid her phone back out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Viddy time,” she whispered with a giggle, her legs under the covers kicking a bit with excitement. She’d earned it.</span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was a little over a half-hour later when she heard the door open, two voices talking as they entered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, shh,” came her brother’s voice. “Futaba might still be asleep.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She grinned, kicking off the covers and running to the door of her room, slowly opening it and peeking out at the two.’</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ya think?” she said, sticking out her tongue and kicking a leg out. “Guess who got dressed AND made food?” she exited the room with a proud spin, posing with her hands on her hips.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Way to go, Futaba-chan!” came the other voice from behind Ren. It was… Ann.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh shit oh fuck,” Futaba murmured, her hands flapping a bit with nervous excitement. “Cute girl alert.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ann gave a little giggle and stepped forward. “Guilty as charged, I guess,” she said with a wink. Futaba’s heart started beating a bit faster, and she leaned back.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You tryin’ to kill me with gay!?” she shouted, maybe a little too loud, seeing Ren recoil just a bit. She leaned forward and gave a smile.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sooo what’re you nerds doin’ today? Study buddy time?” she tilted her head to one side, then the other, back and forth.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ann shook her head. “I was actually here for you, don’t you remember?” At seeing Futaba’s blank expression, she elaborated. “The texts from last night?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dialup noises played in Futaba’s head as she connected the dots. “Oh fuck,” she mumbled to herself upon remembering. “I have no brain.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ann giggled. “Nah, it’s just so full of smart ideas it forgets stuff sometimes.” She looked to Ren, then back to Futaba. “You okay inviting us in, or do you want a sec to get ready?”\</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Uhh…” Futaba slowly slipped back into her room and began to close the door. “Yeah just, uh, one sec, buh-bye, I love you please don’t go anywhere I’ll brb.” And the door shut.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Quickly she scrambled around the room to make it presentable, as much as possible. Trash from lunch, into the garbage bag- which was actually just a plastic bag sitting on the floor by her bed. She tied it up and tossed it on the trash can in the corner. Then she took the stuffed animals scattered around her bed, lovingly leaning them all up against the wall side, and fixed the covers as much as she could to make them look neat. A quick sweep of the floor to make sure no obvious trash was littered around.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She dashed back to the door, a bit short of breath, and threw it open. “Okay it’s probably fine probably. Don’t judge me please. I’m doin’ my best.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ren smiled and gave a thumbs up. “We’d never judge you, sis.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Futaba stuck out her tongue. “Well, I’m not worried about YOU, ya big nerd. I’m more worried about the pretty girl.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m honored you think so highly of me,” Ann said teasingly. “When I’m basically just here to learn what Pokémon is.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh! Yeah!” Futaba hopped in place, smiling brightly at her brother, who gave a subdued grin back. “You’re gonna love it so much Ann, it’s crazy…” she dashed over to the cabinet of games and manga and slid out one of the cases.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Bro,” she said seriously, addressing Ren. “We are now formally taking bets on what Ann’s favorite Pokémon will be. And I call dibs on Furfrou.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Rats,” Ren said jokingly with a snap of his fingers. “Ya got me first.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay, okie dokie dokie,” Futaba mumbled, tossing the game case on her bed and beginning to root around for the console. “Oh by the way, where’s Mona Mona?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Out and about,” Ren answered. “He wanted to go exploring for a bit after sleeping all day in my desk.” His smile was audible in his voice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Funny cat do an adventure,” Futaba said with a serious nod. “I’m proud of him. I hope he finds cool things.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She leaned back. “Alright, got it!” After a moment of smiling at Ann, console in hand, her expression dipped a bit, and she looked away.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Something wrong?” Ren prompted.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Uh… Ann, are you, um, sure you wanna do this with me…” Futaba mumbled. “I know, uh, we don’t always have a lot of shared interests, and I liked going clothes shopping with you before, but I don’t wanna force you to do something you, like… don’t care about, just as an excuse to hang out, you know?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was her paranoia talking, but she noticed the way Ann looked out of place in her room, seated cross-legged on the bed playing with her hair as she waited, twirling it around her finger. Did she feel awkward? Uncomfortable? Whatever the case, Futaba did NOT want to make her feel bad, even a little bit, for any reason. If it meant she didn’t get to share her dumb game, that was fine, because who cares? It was kind of ridiculous anyway…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Futaba…” Ann said gently, leaning down to look at her, a gentle touch to her shoulder to tap her out of her spiral. “You’re good. I came here because I wanna. I remember playing one of these games as a kid, and I loved it, and I thought it would be so cool for you to get me back into it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ann’s smile was warm and patient, she lowered herself to the ground on Futaba’s level, sitting on her legs on the floor, close to her. Sometimes it would be too close- Futaba’s bubble of personal space tended to be quite large- but right now, it was okay. Because it was Ann, and she liked Ann, and trusted her. The hot feeling in her cheeks was just a… somewhat welcome addition.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You know how busy I’ve been lately?” Ann said, sighing. “Modelling work is really stressful, and I’m… not sure if I wanna keep up with it.” She looked down, sheepishly. “You’ve gotta be so dedicated to become a model. It’s really tireless work, and… I don’t know if I wanna continue with it, or if I’d rather find a different way to work in the industry, or something. Some way to put my talents to use without overexerting myself. It’s just… so much pressure, and I don’t know if I’m up to it… I just wanna spend time with my friends, with Shiho, with you.” She ran her fingers gently along Futaba’s arm to hold one of her hands in hers. “So you’re not bothering me. This is… a really welcome relief, honestly.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Futaba nodded, awed a bit into silence. “That sounds really hard,” she whispered, eyes wide and staring. “I’m sorry.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ann shook her head. “Don’t be. It’s my decision to make.” There was silence in the room for a bit, all three parties clearly processing the moment in their heads.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If you, um…” Futaba began, nerves shutting her down before she could finish speaking, but a burst of determination pushing her to continue. “If you need any help with anything, you can, uh… let me know. And I can try and help. Or something.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ann gave a big smile, and nodded in response. “I’d be happy to. I think this is something I wanna figure out for myself first, but if I need advice, you’ll be one of the first people I come to. Deal?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Futaba nodded, smiling sheepishly. “Deal.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Good,” Ann said matter-of-factly. “Now, let’s get gaming.”</span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>Futaba settled back under the covers, and grabbed the cup from her bedside, taking a long sip of coffee. It had been another big day, but she’d managed once again to get through it. She was making progress, getting better, a step at a time. She was proud of herself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“‘Scuse me, comin’ through.” The voice came from the door as a small black cat head shoved its way into the room.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mona time,” Futaba said with a smile and a giggle. “How was your epic quest?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He hopped up on the bed, settling against one of her legs. “Eh. Boring today. Not a lot of cool stuff.” He laid down with a huff, eyes closing. “How about you?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Futaba nodded a couple times to herself. “A good day, a hard day, but a good day. I did a lot of stuff. I played games with Ann. She liked Furfrou. I was right.” She smiled, flapping her arms a bit with her legs preoccupied.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I dunno what that means, but I’ll assume it’s good,” Morgana commented. “Seems like you’re working really hard lately.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There was silence for a bit as Futaba thought to herself. “Yeah,” she said softly. “I… wanna get better. It’s really hard, and scary, but I wanna get better.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Silence, again. “There’s so much wrong with me,” Futaba said with a sad giggle. “So much stuff to handle. It’s like I’ve been getting beaten up my whole life and now I have to find a way to restart.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Morgana spoke up after a bit. “That’s what makes you guys really amazing,” he said. “At first I thought you were a bunch of dumb kids with personas, but you really are amazing.” He paused for a moment. “Ren, Ann, Yusuke, Haru, Makoto, you… even Ryuji,” he laughed at that. “You’re all really strong. You’ve been through so much and you just… survived. You’re all incredible.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And…” he said, lifting his head to look at Futaba directly. “Don’t tell the others I said this, but I think you might be the most amazing of all. No contest.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“R-really?” Futaba’s eyes immediately darted down. “I mean, I have a lot of bad brain stuff to overcome, but I’m not that strong. I couldn’t fight in the Metaverse like Joker could, or anything like that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mona shook his head and laid it back down to rest. “Maybe not. But strength isn’t all about that, y’know? You’re tough. In your own way.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Futaba paused for a moment, holding out one of her arms and lifting up her sleeve, slowly, looking intently at the series of faded scars lining them. The pattern was burned into her mind, and she could vividly recall each of them the moment they were made. Her brain was like that, too, she figured. A pattern of scars. None of them gone, all still there. Faded, but ever-present. That was a lot to overcome.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re not crazy, Futaba,” Ren had said to her once, after he’d noticed her scars at the beach, after she broke down in a panic over the shame and humiliation of it. He’d lifted his left hand close to her, and ran his finger along the small scar along his wrist. “You’re strong.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tears formed in her eyes, and she wiped them quickly on the sleeve of her jacket. She was strong.</span>
</p>
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